Philadelphia -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- First came the whiteouts , then the blackouts .

Utility companies scrambled Friday to restore power to the Northeast as hundreds of thousands shivered .

A powerful snowstorm had moved Wednesday from the Midwest , arriving Thursday in the Northeast . It whacked a string of states along the way , dumping 13 inches of snow on Kansas , more than 10 inches on parts of Massachusetts and 4 inches on New York .

In some areas , ice snapped tree limbs and downed power lines , causing massive blackouts .

In Philadelphia alone , electric provider PECO said early Friday that 319,000 homes and businesses were without power . In Pennsylvania 's Chester County , some traffic lights were powered by portable generators , CNN affiliate KFW reported .

The vast majority of those who lost their power should see it restored Friday , though some may have to wait until Sunday , company spokeswoman Debbie Yemenijian said .

Utility crews from Arkansas , Illinois , Massachusetts , New York , Ohio and Canada joined PECO 's workers to fix the damage , the company said .

In all , more than 1,500 workers were in the field , it said .

In the Baltimore area , about 19,000 homes and businesses remained without power early Friday , utility Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. said on its website .

Tens of thousands more were without power elsewhere in Pennsylvania and New Jersey , with a handful of outages remaining in Ohio as well .

By Friday evening , more than 270,000 customers were still with power in the Mid-Atlantic states .

The wet , heavy snow may have pleased children who got a snow day , but some grownups were not applauding .

`` Harder to push , not as easy actually to plow , '' said Boston snowplow driver Nick Sfravara . `` It 's definitely a challenge to get this stuff out of the way rather than the light stuff . ''

Another system is forecast to bring snow to the region this weekend , but it 's not expected to produce as many problems , CNN meteorologists said .

On the West Coast , much-needed rain and snow should continue through the weekend .

In Washington State , one person was killed and several others injured in a 28-car crash on Interstate 5 in Washington state after a new winter storm blew in off the Pacific , CNN affiliate KPTV reported .

Portland , Oregon , got 3.8 inches of snow on Thursday , the fifth-greatest February snowfall since 1940 . Thursday was also the coldest day in February since 1989 , with a high of 23 degrees .

A second round of snow is expected to fall Friday afternoon , according to KPTV .

San Francisco received nearly three quarters of an inch of rain on Thursday . Another several inches are expected in the inland valleys and 8 to 10 inches in the coastal mountains through the weekend , bringing the possibility of flooding .

Snow showers from the Midwest to the Northeast were expected to drop 2 to 4 inches of snow from the Midwest to the Northeast over the weekend .

Cold air will hang on through the weekend , with highs 10 to 20 degreess below average . Another round of cold is expected to move Sunday into the Upper Midwest , with highs predicted at 30 degrees below average .

CNN 's Faith Karimi reported and wrote from Atlanta , and Margaret Conley reported from Philadelphia . CNN 's Rick Martin , Monica Garrett , Michael Pearson and Tom Watkins contributed to this report .

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NEW : Northwest getting much-needed rain

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Utility workers head to Pennsylvania to help restore power

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Another system is forecast to bring snow to the region this weekend

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But it 's not expected to produce as many problems in the Northeast